
Class_-Z" A) ^ 

Book -^ 

Copyiiglit]^^ 



COEffilGHT DEPOSm 



Samuel M. ^cnnppatker 



Two Hundred Copies 
printed in May, 1917 




^Im^ Pc^^jP^a^-^ 



Samuel M, ^ennppacfeet 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE 

THE PHILOBIBLON CLUB 

OCTOBER 26, 1916 



BY 

HAMPTON L. CARSON, ESQ. 



PHILADELPHIA 

Ebc ^bilobiljlon Club 

1917 



Copyright, 1917, by 
The Philobiblon Club 



AUG i 5 \m 



PRESS OF 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA 



©CI.A470646 



Samuel OT, ^ennppacfeer 

Gentlemen of The Philobiblon Club: 

This meeting is commemorative of Samuel W. 
Pennypacker, your late president. Although not a 
member of your Club, I have been invited to deliver 
the Memorial Address, mainly, I suppose, because of 
my long knowledge of him in the profession of the law, 
and particularly because during the four years of his 
Governorship I stood in closer official relationship to 
him than any other member of his cabinet. 

I knew him well; I respected him truly; I honored 
him faithfully. I honored and respected him to the 
end of his life. I shall honor and respect his memory 
to the end of my own. 

It cannot be expected that I should give you a 
complete or well-finished portrait. It would require a 
volume to do that, and involve at least a year's prepa- 
ration. He died less than sixty days ago, and our 
hearts still throb with a sense of personal loss, and our 
eyes are still dim with emotion. He had so many 
sides to his character, and he was conspicuous in so 
many fields of human endeavor that to follow him 
throughout his varied career would be impracticable 
on an occasion such as this. Student, soldier, lawyer, 
judge, governor, public service commissioner, scholar, 

5 



historian, book-lover, book-collector, and Pennsyl- 
vanian, in each of these roles he won distinction, 
contributed to our stores of knowledge, served the 
State with fidelity and commanded our respect while 
awakening our wonder. His active life was like rock- 
crystal, radiating the white light of a career of usefulness 
and honor. 

In the main, I must confine myself this evening to 
his literary traits and his accomplishments as a biblio- 
phile. At some other time and place I shall endeavor 
to do justice to his greatness as a public man. 

His personality was individual and peculiar, full 
of the most bafiiing characteristics. Humor and seri- 
ousness, pride of ancestry and democratic simplicity; 
breadth of view, and peculiar bias ; respect for authority 
and disregard of conventionalities; gentleness of heart 
and firmness in the discharge of duty; knowledge of 
men, and the ingenuousness of a child ; recondite learn- 
ing and practical sagacity; visions of the unseen and 
familiarity with the farm and factory; ability to argue 
with the most abstract of philosophers, and ability to 
talk with the stable boy and track walker; a memory 
accurate, profound, retentive and reproductive; skill in 
making obscure things clear; a style of writing both 
plain and graphic; a peculiar elocution which at first 
repelled and then riveted attention; these were some 
of the traits which made him a marked man in any 
assembly, whether of the worldly great, or of lowly 
citizens. He fulfilled Emerson's definition of greatness, 
*'He is great, who is what he is from nature, and who 



never reminds us of others." He was a facsimile of 
no man. When Nature made him, she broke the mould. 
The task of a biographer in analyzing character is 
much like that of the analytical chemist in testing 
ores, but he has not the crucibles and scales and tubes 
in which to determine the quantities and qualities of 
the drops of ancestral blood which in the course of a 
long descent become a mixed and turbulent stream. 
The ancestry of President Pennypacker can be traced 
without difficulty through thirty-three generations to 
the ancient Counts of Holland in the ninth century, 
and through fifteen generations to the Queen of Edward 
III of England. There were men who had built 
churches, made pilgrimages to the Holy Land, taken 
part in tournaments, been rescued from pirates, founded 
colleges, led lives of restless ambition, or "laughed in 
their very hearts in the midst of jolly companions." 
There were women who had married kings, earls, and 
knights or joined the Society of Friends. There were 
men who were mariners, preachers, judges, assembly- 
men or doctors of medicine. There were women who 
had ransomed prisoners, were skilful with the needle, 
or were gentle mothers of quiet and well behaved citi- 
zens. *'This pedigree," as President Pennypacker once 
wrote, "is not without a certain philosophical value. 
It shows how the rulers of small states by force and 
fortune advanced the interests of their families until 
their descendants sat upon thrones, and how the blood 
of kings, heated by impulse and often uncontrolled by 
morals, filtered through dukes and earls and knights 

7 



and esquires until it finally became blended with that 
of the common people." 

But notwithstanding this admixture of Dutch with 
Norman, English and Welsh blood, from what we know of 
our friend, it is safe to assert that he was more influenced 
by Dierck of Holland than by Morgan and Thomas of 
England, or by Aubrey and Bevan of Wales. 

Samuel W^hitaker Pennypacker, born at Phcenix- 
ville, Pa., April 9th, 1843, was the son of Isaac Ander- 
son Pennypacker, who graduated in medicine at the 
University of Pennsylvania in 1835, the first burgess 
of Phoenixville in 1849, and Professor of Theory and 
Practice in the Philadelphia College of Medicine. His 
mother was Anna M. Whitaker, daughter of Joseph 
Whitaker, a wealthy iron master. His grandfather was 
Matthias Pennypacker, of Pickering, Chester County, 
Pa., who was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1837; a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 
and a corporator of the Philadelphia and Reading 
Railroad Company. His grandmother was Sarah 
Anderson, daughter of Isaac Anderson who had been a 
lieutenant in the Revolution, a member of Congress 
from 1803 to 1807, and later a Presidential Elector. 

Without pursuing the matter further, enough has 
been said to indicate the character of his ancestry. 

Through the courtesy and interest of Mr. James L. 
Pennypacker, a brother of our lamented friend, I am 
able to show you some brochures which are rare. 

It is a curious thing to note that a man who gave 
so much of his time and strength to the production of 



books, had his own name appear for the first time in 
print in a book when he was only eighteen months old. 
I have here, printed in Philadelphia in the year 1845, 
a Testimonial of Gratitude and Affection to Henry 
Clay, which contains the proceedings of the Whigs of 
Philadelphia, assembled in Town Meeting on the 19th 
day of December, 1844. The meeting was presided 
over by Hon. John Sergeant, who, as you recollect, 
was a vice-presidential candidate on the same ticket 
with Mr. Clay. The resolutions are expressive of the 
appreciation which the Whigs entertained of the prin- 
ciples of Mr. Clay and of his devotion to the cause of 
American labor and industry, and it seems that one of 
them provided for the raising of a fund to be appropri- 
ated to an object delicately concealed, but which his- 
torians know fully meant that friends came to the relief 
of Mr. Clay and, unknown to him, paid his debts. It 
was also resolved that the list of subscribers be carefully 
preserved and that thereafter the whole of the names be 
collected in a book, without specifying amounts sub- 
scribed, and that the list of his friends assembled, with- 
out the statement of the purpose of their gathering, 
should be presented to Mr. Clay in person, and I find, 
in looking over it, on page 172, the name of Samuel W. 
Pennypacker, so that at the age of eighteen months he 
became a subscriber to principles which he ever after- 
ward exemplified. Of course, you understand that the 
subscription was made in the name of the boy by his 
father. Doctor Pennypacker. 

One of his earliest ventures in literature is a Charade 



which I here exhibit, written by Samuel W. Penny- 
packer at the age of twenty -three, which was enacted 
December 31st, 1866, on the word *' Dramatic." Of 
course, it is divided into three parts, "Dram," *' Attic" 
and *' Dramatic" and it indicates that very early in his 
life he possessed the gift, which he never lost, of play- 
fully and at times humorously depicting in dramatic 
form the sentiments that were uppermost in his mind. 
His early experience as an assistant in a drug store is 
plainly seen. In the first scene there is an apothecary 
in his shop, bruising herbs and soliloquizing: 

"This is a fearful trade I follow. Thus to pound 
And pound, and know that every stroke is but 
A blow to drive the soul from some poor fellow's 
Body. Why was not a pestle named a pistol? It 
Is full as deadly. And what weapon is more mortal 
Than this Mortar? Ah, well, it is not for me to change 
The law of nature." 

Just then a physician enters in a fierce rage, and 
the Apothecary dropping his pestle offers him a chair 
with the words; 

"Good morning, doctor, pray 
Be seated. May you always, and your patients 
Never, be as well as you appear this morning.^* 

The Doctor curses and the Apothecary asks: 

"Why, Doctor, what's the matter? Has some unlucky 
Salve been strong enough to draw.-^" 
Phys.y "Go get your file of recipes — (Muttering) 
Recipes, a word contracted from the Rest in Peace 
They write on tombstones." 

10 



The Apothecary returning with the prescription 
which is illegible — the Doctor says: 

"There read me that direction." 
Apothecary, "Vinum Gallici Iz. And I did give the 

man 
A right good dram of brandy — thinking you 
Would have him drunk, and charge a 
Double fee to make him sober, calling it 
Some strange disease." 

Physician, "You idiotic dolt! 'Tis * Vinum Colchici.' " 
Apothecary, "Well — " 

Physician, "There is nothing well about it, save the 
Man himself, and your confounded dram did cure him." 

The Second Scene 

A poverty stricken garret, in which are a poet, his 
wife and an attenuated cat. 

The wife murmurs, while shuddering with cold, of 

her early dreams of a happy cottage, vine embowered, 

and the Poet says: 

"Do not complain, my wife. 'Tis well we have 
A room to live in, though it be an attic." 

Then the Poet, thinking aloud, says: 

" 'Tis ever thus with genius. Men of coarser mold 
Can delve and burrow in the earth and satisfy their 
Great craving, but the spirit can be happy only in its 
Aspirations and self-consciousness. Milton sold his 
Poems for a paltry sum that any hod might scorn, well 
Knowing he would live forever, ♦ * * 
I have rhymed 

The pith of Laon with the scorching wit of Attica, 
But hark — " 
Wife, "What is it?" 
Poet, "Methought I heard a sound." 

11 



Wife, "It was the scratching of the cat, who groans 

For hunger. " 

Poety "It seems to me a tick of some old fashioned 

Clock, Hke that which stood within your father's hall." 

Wife, "'Tis said approaching death so lets 

Itself be known." 

Scene third is laid in Phoenixville. The manager 
is walking up and down his room with a copy of the 
**Phc3enix" in his hand and reads, "I will give a grand 
Dramatic entertainment in the Temperance Hall, on 
the 1st of March. The actors will be amateurs exclu- 
sively. Those wishing to participate should call upon 
the undersigned at 2 o'clock next Monday afternoon, 
prepared to prove their skill. Decided talent will be 
liberally paid for." He lays aside the paper. The bell 
rings. Enter an Irishman. The manager asks: 

"Well sir, who are you.'*" 
Irishman, "Be Jabers, I'm a Fanlan." 
Manager, "What may be your business here with me.^" 
Irishman, "My business, is it.? Faith, I drive a cart. 
A damn poor trade it is, I tell ye that. 
The paper says ye want some ammytoors to do 
Your actin' for ye, and be gorry it's mysilf's 
The Bye to do it. I like this actin. 
It is moighty fine to see the girls hustle around the 
stage." 

Just then a young lady enters who says she can sing. 

Manager, "Let me hear you sing." 
She begins: 

"There is a happy land 
Far, far away 
Where—" 
Manager, "Stop, stop, no more of that." 

12 



Just then a hooded stranger enters. 
Manager, "And who are you?" 

Stranger, "Glamis thou art and Cawdor; and shall be 
What thou art promised." 

A yokel interrupts, and the Manager sneeringly 
asks: 

"Well, country, have you parted with your oats?" 
Yokel: " I hev, ole hoss, I geve em to them other mules 
Below. Would you like to have some?" 

Then an artist appears who, stalking across the 
room, says: 

"I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke 
But I am here to speak what I do know. 
You all did love him once." 
Manager (Rising): 

"My friends, this exhibition is entirely to my satisfac- 
tion. I need detain you now no longer. I engage you one 
and all, and for our entertainment we will take tlie best 
Dramatic work in any language — Shakespeare^ s Hamlet." 

That he retained through the years the faculty of 
writing skits appears by a little one which he wrote, 
while actually on the bench engaged in hearing appli- 
cations to the Court of Quarter Sessions for Liquor 
Licenses, entitled. Reports of Cases in the Philadelphia 
License Court of 1901 : "In Curiam Currente C alamo 
Scribentur.'' The Dramatis Personse are Judges Penny- 
packer and McMichael, detectives of the Law and 
Order Society, and applicants for license — German, 
Italian, Irish and the like — innumerable. 

The spirit of the performance is indicated by the 
following quotations from Milton and Dr. Johnson. 
"License they mean when they cry liberty." 

13 



"There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man 
by which so much happiness is produced as by a good 
tavern." 

Eleven cases are heard by the Court. Case 2 is 

that of Celia B. Gilbert, and is reported thus: 

"Mon cher ami 
J'entend un cri — 
Der Weber ist gefallen, 
Les hommes courirent, 
Les femmes soupirent, 
Und laut die Schreie schallan." 
Case 3. "If French you be 
II fait un bruit 

But, when in accents loud and clear, 
He tells of Tontorello's beer 
The story lags, 

*Tis only Noyes." (A detective.) 
Case 4. Nicholas Pessalono. 

"And now there comes an end to Pessalono's joys 
When a law and order agent got his bottles and 
an-Noyes." 
Case 6. Philip Engelke. 

"Though small and scarce the angels be 
McMichael finds an Engel-Ke — 
Though fortune tap but once in a cycle. 
She scatters her favors before McMichael." 
Case 9. George Dokenwadel. 
"Dokenwadel 
Was fiir ein twaddle 
About a 'boddle'.? 
When you sell it 
Why not tell it?" 
Case 11. Frederik W. Wolf. 

(A bottler who sold beer to the Kensington 
Athletic Club, No. 3643 Market St.) 
" On the Kensington sward, 

14 



In the Twenty-fourth ward, 
Are trained Athle-tes; 
They stride from afar, 
CHng close to the bar 
And swift run into diabetes." 

By this time the Court is tired: The cultured but 

weary McMiehael Canted: 

"Hold! enough! 
Ich hab genug; 
Assez 
J 'en ai; 

I hope and pray 
You will away; 
Moucho no sano 
Poes es bueno; 
Nunc sortis est. 
Give us a rest, 
Life is short," 
(To the Crier) 

"Adjourn the Court." 
Exeunt omnes. 

I have here in another style a fable after the manner 
of iEsop, A Political Fable: 

"Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, 
too, a trusty Watch Dog, who was left, in the absence of 
his master, to guard the household, had a struggle with 
a worthless Tramp. The Tramp, worsted in the contest, 
and smarting with pain and the sting of defeat, said, 'Well, 
if I cannot beat you I can at least give you a bad name.' 
Thereupon he ran through the streets and byways of the 
town crying at the top of his voice, so that all might hear, 
'Bad Dog! Bad Dog!' The credulous people, none too nice 
in distinguishing the differences in sounds and deceived into 
thinking the dog was 'mad,' set upon the trusty Watch 
Dog and stoned him to death. And the worthless Tramp 

15 



went on his way rejoicing, for that not only had he his 
revenge from his defeat, but he was in a better plight for 
getting into the kitchen in his next coming into that town. 

SEQUEL 

The unwary people, such was their haste, did not stone 
to death the trusty Watch Dog, but another dog that 
chanced to be passing through the town at that time." 

You will the better appreciate the humor of this 
piece if I read you the inscription which is as follows: 

"To the 
Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay, 
Long Island, 1776, 
Fredericksburg, 1862, 
New York, 1888, 
Washington, 1890, 
This fable, showing, in mice, the results of the election 
in Pennsylvania in 1890, is dedicated 
By a Pennsylvanian, Proud of Pennsylvania Achievement." 

In entire contrast to the style of the three brochures 
I have shown you, indicative of his light and playful 
humor, I want now to read a passage from the address 
which he delivered at Gettysburg on the 30th of May, 
1904, in introducing President Roosevelt. 

"The presidential office is so great a station among men 
that those who fill it are not to be regarded as personalities. 
Their individuality is lost in its immensity. Jackson repre- 
sented its rough, uncouth and undisciplined strength. 
Lincoln looms up above all other Americans bearing the 
burden of woe and suffering which fate laid upon his broad 
shoulders in its time of stress and trial. Blessed be his 
memory for evermore! No people can look forward to the 
fulfillment of such a destiny as events seem to outline for 
us save one alert and eager with the enthusiasm and vigor 

16 



of youth. No other president has so stood for that which 
after all typifies our life,— the sweep of the winds over broad 
prairies, the snow-capped mountains and the rushing rivers, 
the Sequoia trees, the exuberance of youth conscious of red 
blood, energy and power painting our bow of promise,— as 
does Theodore Roosevelt. He has hunted in our woods, he 
has enriched our literature, he has ridden in the face of the 
enemy, he has maintained our ideals. Upon this day devoted 
to the memories of the heroic dead,— in Pennsylvania, a 
sad Decoration Day, — the achievements of the prolific past 
and the promise of the teeming future confront each other. 
To-day for the first time Theodore Roosevelt treads the 
field made immortal by the sword of George Gordon Meade 
and hallowed by the prose dirge of Abraham Lincoln." 

Here is a little pamphlet, which I cannot stop to 
read, but which is characteristic of his bent, entitled 
The South African War in nuce. It is a severe 
arraignment of England's attempt, and a finally suc- 
cessful attempt, to conquer the Transvaal, but it is 
in President Pennypacker's best style and is quite as 
pointed in its rhetoric as anything could well be. I 
will quote but one passage: 

"Oom Paul takes his place, not in a niche in the Trans- 
vaal, but alongside of Leonidas and Winkelried, of Wallace 
and William of Orange, among the heroes of old time and 
the whole world, to incite the brave to effort for the ages 
yet to come. * * * Mothers will tell their children, poets 
will sing the story, and historians will write in their pages 
how the burghers fought and died upon the kopjes of South 
Africa to save their homes." 

I have brought here the manuscript of Governor 
Pennypacker's Address on Anthony Wayne, at the time 
of the unveiling of the statue on the hills of Valley 

17 



Forge, and it is entirely characteristic of his method 
of composition. He always wrote out an important 
paper in longhand and did it in ink, and you can see 
with what fluency he wrote. Very few corrections 
were made. As he warmed up in his task the hand- 
writing becomes quite illegible, and familiar as I am 
with it, the last few pages of this address are to me 
almost undecipherable. I exhibit this because it is 
characteristic of his work. He never attempted to 
dictate addresses but always wrote in longhand. He 
was as fluent as a writer as he was as a speaker. 

You will recall that he also wrote Historical and 
Biographical Sketches gathered into a book, containing 
among other things his youthful experiences as a 
soldier as a volunteer in the Gettysburg campaign 
entitled Six Weeks in Uniform. 

If you ask for his more serious work, I can touch it 
but lightly. He published four volumes of Reports of 
the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 
known as Pennypacker's Reports^ which had escaped 
the attention of former reporters, and which filled a 
gap in the historical statement of our judicial develop- 
ment. 

When called on to deliver an address before the 
Law Academy of Philadelphia, he performed a task 
which tested his patience and his accuracy to the ut- 
most. He produced a small volume of Colonial Cases 
of Pennsylvania, which he dug out of seventeen vol- 
umes in the first series of our Colonial Records, a task 
of extraordinary industry. Those volumes, printed on 

18 



thin paper, contain an average of 450 pages each, and 
if you multiply that number by 17 you find that he 
examined nearly 8000 pages in order to extract 76 
cases which came judicially before Colonial Judges 
between the time Penn landed in 1C82 and the year 
1713. The result is indicative of pertinacious burrow- 
ing into the past, a labor which was not in vain, 
because it rescued that past and made it intelligible. 
If you wish to look at his judicial labors, or records 
of them, you will find them scattered through the 
volumes of the Philadelphia and District Reports. 
He was not a judge who loaded his opinions with cita- 
tions of authority. He was so well grounded in prin- 
ciples that a clear statement of the law, about which 
he felt reasonably certain, was with him an emphatic 
way of expressing himself. There are some judges who 
draw themselves up by the balustrades of authority, 
climbing from case to case before they can reach the 
top. Other judges, well aware of a principle, and having 
the gift of stating it concisely and clearly, will satisfy 
themselves by direct statement and an application to 
the facts found either by the verdict of a jury or by a 
referee. To this class Judge Pennypacker belonged. 

The late Samuel Dickson, as Chancellor of the Law 
Association of Philadelphia, once said in a pubUc ad- 
dress : " It is not possible for the wit of man to exag- 
gerate the value to the community of having such a 
judge as Pennypacker on the bench." 

Wlien he became Governor of the State, he intro- 
duced a style in official messages which w^as thereto- 

19 



fore unknown. The public had paid little or no heed 
to the veto messages of governors, but the moment 
Governor Pennypacker began that extraordinary series 
which is printed in a separate volume, attention was 
paid not only to matter but to manner all over the 
State and finally all over the country. I will quote 
from one or two of them as indicating something new 
in state literature. There was a bill, but six or seven 
lines long, that made it lawful for a railroad corpora- 
tion to sell a part or parts of its corporate plant to any 
other railroad corporation. 

The Governor vetoed it in these words: 

"The purpose of this bill is to enable any railroad cor- 
poration to convey a part or parts of its railroad and the 
franchises to any other railroad having a railroad connecting 
with such part or parts. There is no attempt to define what 
shall constitute a part. There was once a man who was cut 
into pieces. One piece consisted of a fragment of his finger 
nail, the other piece was the rest of his body." 

There was an Act of Assembly sent to his table to 
prohibit spitting under penalty of fine and imprison- 
ment. The Governor vetoed it in this language: 

"The purpose of the bill appears to be an eflFort to make 
people nice and cleanly in their habits by legislation. It 
is not confined to those who have consumption or other 
diseases which may be so transmitted. There are certain 
inconveniences which necessarily result from association 
with our fellows and which have to be endured. There is 
an efiluvia, more or less disagreeable, from every living 
person. There is an exudation from every pore of the skin. 
There are conditions under which spitting is almost impos- 
sible to restrain. Among the thousands of people who go to 

20 



a circus, one or more may have a cold; catarrh, or sudden 
contact between the teeth and tongue may cause a flow of 
saliva. Imprisonment seems to be severe punishment for 
yielding to what cannot always be prevented. If spittoons 
were provided, there would be a stronger reason for such 
legislation. Upon the whole, while it must be conceded that 
spitting is not nice, pleasant or polite, it seems to me that 
it would be better to leave the cure of a bad habit to the 
gradual development of a better taste and higher culture 
rather than to attempt a regulation by law, in the shape of 
an enactment which imposes imprisonment, instead of a 
well digested health regulation." 

A bill authorized the sheriff of every county in the 
Commonwealth to run down suspected murderers by 
bloodhounds. The Governor vetoed it in these words: 

"The purpose of this bill is to authorize the sheriff of 
every county whose population does not exceed one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand to acquire and maintain two blood- 
hounds which shall be used only to pursue a person or persons 
charged with murder or felony. It is far better that a person 
charged with crime should escape than that the means pro- 
vided for in this Act should be used for his capture." 

From this Volume of Veto Messages I am simply 
picking out a few instances showing the range of his 
activity. The Legislature had passed an act prohibit- 
ing the killing of bears with any other w^eapon than a 
gun and at any other time of the year except the month 
of November. The Governor said: 

"The bear is an animal not always of a gentle disposition 
and especially if it be a female bear with cubs. If a man 
wandering in the woods is attacked by such a bear in some 
other month than November what is he to do.? Bears are 
sometimes the aggressors and prove to be injurious to the 

21 



crops and the sheep pen of the farmer. Is he not to be per- 
mitted to protect his property save in the month of Novem- 
ber? The bill provides that no bear is to be killed excepting 
with firearms. Should the woodsman be attacked by a 
bear while cutting down trees in the woods, may he not 
use his axe.'^" 

I happened to be present at the time that he for- 
mulated his views with regard to this bill, and I begged 
him not to change the first draft. He thought the 
form crude and beneath the dignity of a message to 
the Legislature, but the way it originally occurred was 
this. He said : 

"I herewith return without my approval Senate Bill 
No. 236 which makes it a crime, punishable by fine and 
imprisonment, to kill a bear in any other month of the year 
than November and with any other weapon than a gun. 
Suppose a man chopping wood, with an axe in his hand, is 
attacked by a bear in the month of July.'' The bear won't 
wait until November and won't let him go and get a gun." 

Here is a veto message of a totally different kind, 
and it is one of which the Governor felt proud. A bill 
had been introduced to enlarge the powers of condem- 
nation enjoyed by railroads in taking properties, in- 
cluding those occupied, in whole or in part, as dwell- 
ings by the owners. The Governor wrote as follows: 

"When the land of a citizen is taken by a railroad it is 
taken by the Commonwealth, because the public necessities 
require the sacrifice. Is it then more to the interest of the 
Commonwealth that there should be an absolutely straight 
line between New York or Chicago, because that is the logical 
end toward which one alternative takes us, or is it more to 
the interest of the Commonwealth that the citizen should 
be permitted to rear his family at his own fireside undis- 

22 



turbed, with all that this means for the preservation of the 
race and its virtues? It seems to me that it is possible to 
take a middle course to avoid both Scylla and Charybdis 
and to this extent at least to put the exercise of the right 
of eminent domain where in principle it belongs. There may 
be a house about which there can be no sentiment and little 
value owned by a man without family, which he proposes 
to sell at an enormous price because it stands in the line of 
a great public improvement. There may be a home typical 
of all that is good in American life, around which cluster the 
associations of centuries and which ought to be preserved 
regardless of trade. There may be a railroad organized at a 
venture without public need, destined to end in failure after 
the destruction of much which is more useful than itself. 
Is it wise to leave the determination of what ought to be 
saved and what may be destroyed to a board of interested 
directors.^ Is it wise to have judgment rendered by one of 
the parties? The bill ought to have provided for a tribunal 
representing the State which could decide upon the necessity 
and while being just to the railroad, could protect the citizen. 
If we are to go further with the grants of the right to take 
private property, and any one who has kept pace with 
recently projected legislation can see whither we are else 
drifting, some such plan ought to be adopted." 

Those words — "Is it wise to have judgment ren- 
dered by one of the parties?" — are indicative of the 
judicial attitude which he preserved in the Governor's 
chair throughout his entire course. I recollect being in 
the Governor's room one morning when the Deputy 
Secretary of the Commonwealth brought a pile of 
commissions and spread them on the table for the 
Governor's signature. The Governor said: "What are 
these?" "Commissions, sir." "Commissions of whom?" 
"Railway and iron police." "Who are they? " " W' hy, 

23 



Governor, you know that it is usual for the Governor 
of Pennsylvania to commission a number of men in 
order to preserve order in case of violence around 
properties, factories, mines or other places where strikers 
are assembling." "Who sent the names here for the 
commissions? I have not seen them before, and you 
have got the commissions filled up." *'The names were 
suggested." "Suggested by whom?" "They are sent 
here by the companies themselves." He said: "I want 
it understood from this time out that I never will sign 
a commission which puts the power to arrest or the 
sovereignty of the State in the hands of any appointee 
or nominee of one of the parties to any controversy." 
Out of that fair attitude arose our independent State 
Constabulary, modeled on the Canadian Police, which 
has been the finest and most efficient force in the main- 
tenance of law and order throughout this Common- 
wealth. Governor Pennypacker is entitled to the credit 
of having then and there conceived the idea of an in- 
dependent body which should stand between the 
striker and the property owner, and thus prevent a 
frequent cause of bloodshed and violence, where strikers 
became irritated by finding they were shot at, or threat- 
ened to be shot at by men whom they knew to be in the 
employ of the opposite party to the controversy. The 
incident is characteristic of his whole attitude through- 
out his governorship. 

I turn to him in another capacity, that of a col- 
lector, and I have brought here a few of the catalogues 
of his collections to indicate to you the character of 

24 



work that he did. I will read an extract from the pref- 
ace, and it is worthy of being read because written by 
Mr. Henkels, who is an expert and well knows what 
he is cataloguing: 

"This collection is a magnificent monument to the 
usefulness of the antiquary, in the preservation of 
documents and tomes which would probably have been 
destroyed through the carelessness of their owners, 
had not his forethought seen their use as records of 
history and mementoes of those who were great, and 
likely to be forgotten but for these mute witnesses of 
their one-time existence. Hours, days, weeks, months 
and years has Governor Pennypacker spent in untiring 
research. No manuscript was too discolored for him 
to pass over carelessly, no volume too unpretentious 
for him to cast aside without first examining its con- 
tents, as well as any inscriptions which might appear 
thereon. Consequently, we have here a really wonder- 
ful gathering of Manuscripts, Diaries, and Common- 
place Books of many of the most important personages 
of Colonial and Revolutionary times — books from the 
libraries of great Generals, Statesmen, Divines, Poets 
and others; elegantly Illuminated Vellum Missals, 
Church Chorals, and Antiphonalias." 

I will now call your attention to one or two notes, 
written by Governor Pennypacker himself, descriptive 
of the books, suggestive of the extraordinary learning 
which he carried in a modest and unobtrusive way. 

Here is a folio which is a record of the Supreme 
Court held at Philadelphia for the Province of Pennsyl- 

25 



vania before John Kinsey, Chief Justice in the year 
1743, and associates Thomas Graeme and WiUiam Till. 
"This folio contains the names of 303 German res- 
idents of Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks and Lancaster 
Counties, naturalized by the Supreme Court. Hilde- 
burn attributes it to Joseph Crellius who, Thomas says, 
printed a newspaper for some years, but if printed by 
him it is the only specimen of his work known to exist. 
My belief is that it was printed by Benjamin Franklin 
and that Crellius was only a German agent for that 
shrewd man of business. A comparison of type and 
paper shows that they are identical with those used by 
Franklin. If Crellius had a printing office it is remark- 
able that no book or pamphlet printed by him is known. 
Hildeburn had never seen a copy." You observe 
that his eye was like that of a bank clerk detecting 
something suspicious in the appearance of a bank note. 

Another number consists of "A New Guide to the 
English Tongue in Five Parts," and Governor Penny- 
packer writes : "This is in a rather imperfect condition, 
but it is the only copy known. It contains the twelve 
Fables of iEsop with all the wood cuts and is the first 
Franklin issue with illustrations, and the first American 
Edition of ^Esop's Fables." 

He acquired a highly valuable historical collection 
of twenty-one autograph letters, twelve being originals 
by Franklin and nine by his son William Franklin, the 
Colonial Governor of New Jersey. 

When in London in 1898, he acquired an original 
portrait of Benjamin Franklin drawn in pencil by Ben- 

26 



jamin West, sold at the dissipation of the West collec- 
tion. He had it framed in wood taken from the origi- 
nal floor of Independence Hall during the restoration of 
the building in 1898. At the same time he acquired the 
Wedgwood portrait of Franklin in porcelain. 

With regard to books having personal associations, 
I find that he had Peter Lloyd's copy of the second 
Bradford's Laws of Pennsylvania printed in the year 
1728 and sold by Andrew Bradford. It was a compila- 
tion made by David Lloyd, the first of our great Com- 
moners in Pennsylvania, who fought the fight of the 
people against Penn, just as Franklin did later against 
the Penn family, and contains in addition the Acts of 
the Session of 1728-9. The Governor wrote: "This is 
the second collection of Pennsylvania Laws, with the 
autographs on the title page of Peter Lloyd in 1729 and 
William Lloyd in 1759. The original owner had bound 
in it, for notes, a lot of paper, nineteen folios of which 
are not written on, and it happens that this paper was 
made at the Rittenhouse Paper Mill on the Wissa- 
hickon, the first in America. The watermark is a clover 
leaf, which was the town seal of Germantown, and the 
initials K. R. stand for Klaus Rittenhouse; probably 
the largest amount of paper of that kind unused in 
existence." 

He secured a book with which I was quite familiar 
when a boy: Hickey's Edition of the Constitution of 
the United States, together with the Declaration of 
Independence, compiled with notes and largely used 
by Senators and Members of Congress. This copy had 

27 



written in it in his own proper autograph the name of 
"Jefferson Davis, 28th December, 1848," and stamped 
on the outside was "Honorable Jefferson Davis, Senator 
United States, Mississippi." Governor Pennypacker 
wrote "His book and httle good did it do him." 

Here is Melancthon's Copy of Virgil, described as 
follows : 

MELANCTHON. Virgil "Georgicorum P. Vir- 
gilii Maronis liber cum novo commentario Hermann! 
Torrentini." 4to, original edges, modern boards. 

Impressum Argentine loanni Knoblouch, Anno 
Domini MDVIII. 

" Melancthon's copy with his numerous interlinea- 
tions and notes: From the celebrated library (with 
book-plate) of Georgius Kloss, M. D. Francofurti ad 
Maenum. 25/1508." 

Here is a book from the Library of William Penn: 

"PENN. A Treatise of the Corruption of Scrip- 
ture, Counsels and Fathers, by the Prelates, Pastors, 
and Pillars of the Church of Rome, for maintenance 
of Popery and irreligion by Thomas James Samm 4to, 
old calf." 

He also acquired Abraham Lincoln's fee book. It 
is the original autograph fee book of the law firm of 
Lincoln & Herndon of the year 1847, and contains 
thirty-eight pages, twelve in the handwriting of Lin- 
coln and twenty-six in the handwriting of Mr. Herndon. 

I might go on indefinitely, but let me read to you a 
general description of this great collection of books by 
a man who for years was familiar with it : 

28 



"The Governor was a general collector of Ameri- 
cana. Of course he adhered more strictly to items re- 
lating to the State of Pennsylvania, and especially to 
early printers of that State, as also to Books relating 
to the Mennonites and the Moravians. During the 
forty-five or fifty years of his collecting, within my 
memory, and I think he commenced that collecting 
about the time I went into business, he accumulated 
one of the most remarkable collections of books and 
pamphlets printed by Benjamin Franklin, and owned 
at that time by any private individual." 

The second collection is of personal association 
books, manuscript commonplace books and diaries. 
Part three embraces his collection of books and pam- 
phlets on the history of Pennsylvania. Part four em- 
braces a collection of books relating to general Ameri- 
can history. Part five embraces a collection of books 
relating to the Quakers and the publications of the 
Sower press of Germantown, and the early presses of 
the inland towns of Pennsylvania. In that collection 
was a complete set of the Seven New Testaments 
published by Christopher Sower, printed from 1745 to 
1775. It was the only complete set in existence. An- 
other item was "Truth Advanced in the Correction 
of many gross and hurtful errors" by George Keith, 
printed in the year 1694. Part six contained his col- 
lection of autograph letters, caricatures, broadsides, 
portraits and views. Part seven was a collection of 
publications from the press of Robert Bell, of the 
Ephrata Society and early American printers. Part 



2» 



eight embraced his books relating to the University 
of Pennsylvania and works generally on bibliography. 

By consent of the State Librarian I am permitted 
to read a letter which he sent me : 

"Some time ago I was requested by the Mennonites 
to secure for them the first edition of the works 
of Menno Simons. It was found that the only known 
copy was in the Royal Library at The Hague. I wrote 
and asked the Librarian whether he would have it 
photographed or whether he would allow me to have 
the book and have a photographic copy made. Very 
much to my surprise the book was sent here and the 
Mennonite Committee has expressed its satisfaction, 
inasmuch as they would have been led into grievous 
error without having had access to this particular vol- 
ume. When I told Governor Pennypacker about it he 
said, 'You did a wrong thing. The book might now 
be at the bottom of the sea, and all trace of the matter 
would then have been lost.' I remarked, 'Suppose the 
Germans had gone into Holland instead of into Bel- 
gium, what would have become of the volume?' His 
reply was, 'Montgomery, you can always justify your- 
self in any wrong that you perpetrate.' Then he 
added, with quite as characteristic a touch as the other, 
'Inasmuch as you have the book and have a copy 
made I would like to have one.' " Mr. Montgomery 
adds: "He spoke in French, Dutch and German, and 
read Latin and Greek fluently. I have taken very 
badly written early German manuscripts to him and 
he would read them off without the slightest trouble, 
commenting in his quaint way as he passed along." 



Before I tell an anecdote which illustrates some of 
the experiences he had in collecting, let me read a little 
further from Mr. Montgomery of whom I asked some 
description of Governor Pennypacker's activity in book 
lore: "I very often examined his books and some 7,000 
are still in the possession of the family. These comprise 
all the writings relative to the Perkiomen Valley and 
everything alluding to the Pennypacker family and 
any of its ramifications. A few years ago the Schwenk- 
felders formed a commission to print all the works of 
Emanuel Schwenkfeld consisting of some 96 different 
titles. A representative was sent abroad who went all 
the way up the Rhine into Switzerland and he brought 
back 50 out of the 96. Some one happened to mention 
this matter to the Governor who gravely remarked, 
* Why didn't they come to me "^ I have 90 of the 96 in 
my own collection.' 

"Among the books he allowed to go at the time of 
the sale was a beautiful copy of one of the rarest of 
the Franklin imprints, 'An essay on the Dry-Gripes' 
by Thomas Cadwalader; one of the earliest medical 
treatises written and published in America. He had 
a large collection of Poor Richard Almanacs, the one 
for 1739 brought $215 and it was not up to that time 
in the Library of the Historical Society. He had the 
original manuscript hymn-book of Johannis Kelpius 
and the other hermits of the Wissahickon; the original 
manuscript fee book of the law firm of Lincoln & 
Herndon, containing 12 pages written by the Emanci- 
pator and the balance being in the hand of his partner; 



31 



The Disputatio Inauguratio of Francis Daniel Pasto- 
rius, written upon his graduation in law, the only known 
copy; the original autobiography of Robert Proud 
with two drawings of himself; a unique volume of 
pamphlets gathered and bound by General Washing- 
ton with his autograph and bookplate, containing *A 
prayer for the benefit of the soldiery in the American 
Army' by Leonard; the original plans of the encamp- 
ment at Valley Forge 1777-78, describing the forces 
under Lord Sterling and Lafayette; the excessively 
rare first map of Pennsylvania published in London in 
1690 by Thomas Holme, now in the State Library; and 
Bradford's 'Laws of Pennsylvania,' 1714. All of the 
earlier printed laws were represented in his collection. 
He had also 'Some letters and an abstract of letters 
from Pennsylvania, ' one of three known copies printed 
and sold by Andrew Sower, 1691; William Smith's 
'Historical account of the expedition against the Ohio 
Indians' originally attributed to Thomas Hutchings, 
London, 1766; the valuable works by Peter Plocklioy, 
'The Way to Peace, a settlement of this Nation,' ad- 
dressed to Cromwell, and 'Kort En Claer,' Count 
Zinzendorf's copy; Dr. William Smith's 'Brief State 
of the Province of Pennsylvania,' with his autobio- 
graphical notes; Henry Dearborn's original manu- 
script orderly book at Valley Forge, 1778; Morgan 
Edwards ' ' Material Towards the History of the Ameri- 
can Baptists'; Luden's 'Selection of the most interest- 
ing narratives of outrages committed by the Indians 
in their Wars with the White People,' Carlisle, 1808; 

32 



Charles Thompson's 'Enquiry into the Causes of the 
Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanees Indians 
from the British Interest,' a fine clean copy with the 
map and original covers, bound in London, 1759; 
David Vries 'Corte Historiael ende Journaels,' one of 
the rarest of books." 

That in a general way indicates not only the line 
and direction of his collecting but also its extraordinary 
breadth and the way in which he brought together 
large collections so as to focus light on Pennsylvania 
history. 

I recall being at a dinner where a number of 
collectors were present, in fact it was called The 
Crank Club, in which each man was called on to 
narrate some particular experience of his own in the 
matter of collecting. Governor Pennypacker said 
that he had noticed in a catalogue of Davis & Harvey 
a letter of Ephraim Blaine, grandfather of James G. 
Blaine, addressed to James Wilson, the first professor 
of law in our University of Pennsylvania, a signer of 
The Declaration of Independence, and also one of the 
framers of the Constitution of the United States; 
having great admiration for both the writer and the 
addressee, he wished to become the owner of that letter. 
The price, however, soared out of his reach. He did 
not know who the buyer was by name but he noticed 
to whom it had been knocked down by the auctioneer. 
Somewhat disappointed, he strolled down town to 
Leary's, and in turning over books came across the 
second edition of Poe's Poems. He bought it for a 

33 



trifle, somewhat less than a dollar, slipped it in his 
pocket, walked up Chestnut Street and, finding that 
the auctioneer's flag was still out, again ascended the 
stairs. In going up he met the man who had purchased 
the Wilson letter coming down and happened to over- 
hear him say to a friend at his side "I wonder why it 
is that the second edition of Poe's poems is so scarce? 
It never seems to turn up." The Governor drew it 
out of his pocket and said "Would you like to look at 
one?" and he said "I saw his mouth water, and he 
finally said to me 'Will you part with it?'" "Well," 
said the Governor, "perhaps." "What do you think 
it would be worth?" Said he, "I think it would be 
worth exchanging for a letter from Ephraim Blaine to 
James Wilson," and, he concluded, "We made the ex- 
change and each one was satisfied." 

x\s to his artistic side I wrote to an artist who knew 
him well, and who is more than an artist, being an his- 
torian and somewhat of a publicist, and he wrote me 
this letter: 

"Covering a number of years in which Governor Penny- 
packer came to my studio I learned that he always had the 
real facts concerning the books he was after. I recall many 
instances of his intimate knowledge of books he wanted, 
particularly one relating to a volume I gave no value to, 
and he afterwards showed an interest in it. I asked him 
why he wanted it, and he said he saw an advertisement 
several years ago in a publication of a book in Scotland 
that such a book would be published in Philadelphia, and 
had been on the lookout for it for years. 

"While I was not interested in the character of books 
he collected, he surprised me with his intimate knowledge 

34 



of what he did want, even though he had not discovered 
or seen them, and, while he had the practical Pennsylvania 
German thrift in his purchases, he had the intelligence to 
pay for rare things when they came to him, but again, only 
what he wanted; the commercial side was of no importance 
to him. He purchased no bargains for a possible larger 
return. He was a collector first and last with a definite 
object in view, and to fulfil some well defined purpose. 

"In my relations with him during his sittings for his 
portrait at Pennypacker Mills, the impression he gave me 
was of a man contented in mind and body — great pride in 
his office, and an interest in his ancestry which in him with 
his democratic makeup was hard to define. Mr. Justice 
Brown of the Supreme Court of the United States said to 
me that the greatest sticklers for precedence in Washington 
that he knew of were Mr. Justice Harlan and Speaker 
Cannon, notwithstanding their apparent democratic de- 
meanor, and this I feel was true of Pennypacker. Our 
friend was a character of a past time, and in studying him, 
you could almost conceive of a man, perhaps one of the 
first German settlers, suddenly brought into modern con- 
ditions; that is in his relation to art, that is the impression 
he gave. 

"He was pre-eminently a primitive, with all the natural 
innocence that goes with the quaint and really artistic 
production of the early German settlers. In his apparently 
cold house on North 15th Street, and his Pennypacker 
Mills home, with its utter lack of what is termed artistic 
decoration to-day, he unconsciously possessed a delightful, 
and to my mind an artistic simplicity, heightened by a 
few prints and decorations such as an early Pennsylvanian 
German may have had. His preference was for such en- 
gravers as Dawkins and Norman, and I recall his intense 
satisfaction when he acquired the rare print of Dickinson, 
done I believe by Dawkins, a quaint, interesting and honest 
effort of the engraver's limited talents and opportunities. 
His tendency was entirely in this direction, not only in 

35 



prints, but in pottery and pewter; it saved him from the 
meretricious in modern things, and his surroundings were 
harmonious and consistent with his temperament. It 
would have been a pity to have educated him out of it, 
even if that were possible. 

"He was a keen lover of the natural beauties surrounding 
his home at Pennypacker Mills. I recall while sitting on a 
low bench with him on a low bank of the Perkioraen his 
discussion of the splendid surroundings, and how he had 
acquired the opposite shore of the creek, so that its beauty 
should not be marred by so-called modern improvements. 
Yours very sincerely, 

Albert Rosenthal." 

Of his love of books, and the general character of 
his reading, permit me to add a few words. I have 
examined three notebooks in his own handwriting 
which contain the record of his literary studies. They 
begin in October, 1863, and close, without omission of 
a single year, in 1916. They combine the features of 
commonplace books, anthologies, quotations of strik- 
ing passages both in prose and poetry, with careful 
lists of the authors read, the number of pages contained 
in each, arranged under appropriate headings. They 
embrace Greek, Latin, French, German, Dutch, Itahan 
and Spanish as well as English books, carefully sum- 
marized. In 1863, he read a total of 21,130 pages, of 
which 5336 were in law% and 15,794 in general litera- 
ture. In the former, Coke-Littleton, Blackstone, Kent, 
Sir William Jones, Burlamaqui, and Williams alter- 
nated with Voltaire, Rousseau, Des Cartes, Hobbes, 
Locke, Hume, Goethe, Spenser, Byron, Dryden, Pope, 
Wordsworth, Tennyson, Chaucer and Swinburne. Dur- 

36 



ing the succeeding years, he fell but httle below this 
average. Even while he was Governor, oppressed with 
affairs of State, he refreshed himself with literature, 
reading the Bible from cover to cover for the fourth 
time; in 1904 reading 27,934 pages, of which 1321 were 
in German, 48 in Dutch, and 216 in Italian. In 1906, 
while still in office, he ran the figures up to 31,578 pages, 
of which 779 were in German and 1002 in French. 
His list for that year includes all of Shakespeare's 
English Historical Plays, Henry IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, 
King John, Richard II and Richard III. In that year 
as in former ones, he filled pages with quotations from 
what he had read. In 1910, while at Pennypacker's 
Mills, he filled 89 pages with extracts from Latin, 
French and old English authors. In 1916, while sick 
and suffering, he read Poe, Macaulay, Bayard Taylor's 
novels Joseph and the Story of Kennetty the Life 
of Menno Simon, Charles Francis Adams' Autobiog- 
raphy, Trollope, and Koster's Secrets of German 
Success. Through all the years, at frequently recur- 
ring intervals he returned to Bunyan, Milton and 
Thomas a Kempis. 

The two following letters, which I will read, show 
how strongly he clung to his favorite ideals, and how 
lofty those ideals were. Just a word as to how these 
letters came to be written. 

Mr. Albert Mordell, a member of the Philadelphia 
bar, some years ago wrote a very extraordinary little 
brochure entitled "The Shifting of Literary Values." 
He followed that by another work called "Waning 



37 



Classics" in which he maintained the thesis that as 
Dante, Milton, John Bunyan, Thomas a Kempis and 
Thomas Aquinas in their great works represent very 
largely an antiquated, worn out, mediaeval faith, their 
value from a literary point of view was passing away, 
and that you could no longer attempt to classify them 
among the great poets if you define poetry as an art 
which should have effect on human life or human con- 
duct, and he sent copies of his papers to Governor 
Pennypacker, whose replies I will read because they 
indicate how profoundly the Governor thought on sub- 
jects which are somewhat outside a busy man's duties. 

Philadelphia, July 23, 1912. 
"Dear Mr. Mordell: — 

"I read very carefully your brochure upon 'The Shift- 
ing of Literary Values,' and I thank you for your courtesy 
in sending it to me. 

"The paper indicates wide and industrious reading, and 
manifests a courage to think out and express your own con- 
victions upon important subjects. To a certain extent I 
agree with your conclusions. The importance of every book 
must be more or less affected by an ascertainment of the 
fact that the views it expresses are incorrect. Your thesis 
is that literature 'having been the depository of men's 
thoughts in the past must wane in artistic value if the world 
has discovered that these ideas were false.' The soundness 
of this proposition depends upon two assumptions, first: 
that the world has so discovered, and second: that artistic 
value depends upon present utility. It seems to me that 
we cannot be quite sure of either of these conditions. An 
India shawl may be admired by a woman in the tropics, 
even though she may not wear it. We admire the Chinese 
carving of a monster, which never existed. We likewise 
admire the art of an arrow head made of Jasper, although 

.88 



the situation which brought it about is in the forgotten 
past, and its uses gone forever. The fact that so many men 
and women still read Marcus Aurelius and Thomas a Kempis 
shows that the standards of ethics have not changed, to 
the extent that you and Nietzsche suppose. 

"It is still wise to exercise restraint over our bodily 
impulses and functions. The child, who admiring the beauty 
of a hornet, picks it up is sure to suffer. The man of wealth 
who takes a strumpet in his yacht would do better to read 
Thomas a Kempis. 

"Expressing in this way some modification of your 
views, I congratulate you upon having done a serious work. 
Very truly yours, 

Saml. W. Pennypacker." 

The following letter was written entirely with his 
left hand after he had broken his right arm. He had lost 
the address of Mr. Mordell and simply addressed it 
to him "in Philadelphia." It was returned to the 
Governor and he afterwards re-sent it to Mr. Mordell 
with the comment that he saw that a Democratic 
Administration was unable to find him. As illus- 
trating the success of the Post OflSce in finding a man, 
I recollect that Lawrence Hutton, who lived at Princeton 
when Mark Twain was abroad, endeavored to find 
him, and not knowing his address, and nobody else 
knowing his address, simply put on a postal card 
"Mark Twain, the Lord knows where," and in about 
six weeks he got back a postal card in Mark's hand- 
writing "He did." 

The letter I now read: 

"Harrtsburg Club, October 19, 1915. 
"Dear Mordell: 

"I have read the 'Waning Classics' which you were 
good enough to send me. It is a bold, strong presentation 

39 



of a view and contains a measure of truth, but not absolute 
truth which is still at the bottom of the well. The best of 
your papers, and the one with which I least agree, is that 
upon the Imitation of Christ. Pardon me for saying to you 
that you are making an unsuccessful effort to close your 
eyes to certain phases of truth. 

"When I was a child I read with great enthusiasm the 
Pilgrim's Progress oblivious to the allegory and interested 
alone in the story. Are you familiar with Bergson's Evolu- 
tion? His theory is that instinct and intelligence are both 
evolved, that intellect having arisen from a consideration 
of the concrete, numbers, lines, and logic, is utterly incap- 
able of comprehending life and that as to life instinct is our 
only guide. This is the thought of Pascal worked out by a 
scientist, except that Pascal calls it heart. There are realms 
of thought yet open for your explanation. 

Sincerely yours, 

Sam'l W. Pennypacker." 

I have reserved for the close of this talk An Ad- 
dress at the Dinner of the New England Society in 
1891, entitled TJie Keystone and Plymouth Rocky a 
happy specimen of Judge Pennypacker's devotion to 
Pennsylvania, and a felicitous example of his skill in 
blending humor with history, and State pride with 
patriotism. I regard it, in many respects, as the best 
of his speeches. He had put into his pocket on leaving 
his house for the banquet a little book, compiled by 
Nathaniel Dwight and published at Hartford, Conn., 
in 1807, called "A System of the Geography of the 
World — By way of Question and Answer — Principally 
Designed for Children and Common Schools." He 
read the question: "What is the Character of the Penn- 
sylvanians?" and the Answer: "Pennsylvania is in- 

40 



habited by a great variety of people. * * * Many of 
the yeomanry, in some parts of this State, differ from 
the New Englanders, for the former are impatient of 
good government, order and regularity, and the latter 
are orderly, regular and loyal." With this thrust at 
his audience, he recalled a toast to which they had re- 
sponded with applause: "Benjamin Franklin — the dis- 
coverer of Philadelphia," and then declared: "In a 
certain sense I admit the fact which lies concealed in 
that witticism; and in that sense concede that Ben- 
jamin Franklin was *the discoverer of Philadelphia.' 
When the cumulative forces of civilization, which had 
been gathering for fifteen centuries, had made their 
way across the Atlantic, and, several centuries later, 
had extended beyond the Mississippi and reached the 
base of the Rocky Mountains — then the potato bug 
discovered the potato." He told how "in 1723 a 
young man of seventeen years walked from the Dela- 
ware, up Market Street to Fourth. * * * He saw the 
accumulated shipping at the wharves; he saw the store- 
houses and warehouses of a prosperous and growing 
community; and in the market house, which ran along 
the centre of the street, he saw the rich products which 
had come down from the farms of Lancaster and 
Chester Counties. It was a spectacle the like of which 
never before had met his gaze and — Benjamin Frank- 
hn 'discovered' Philadelphia." He pointed out that 
"in all her efforts to ameliorate the condition of the 
human race, and to advance the cause of literature 
and science, Pennsylvania has had the warm support 

41 



of the sons of New England. The American Phil- 
osophical Society, which was the first of our scientific 
institutions, has had, in that blessed land, many suc- 
cessors." The Law Department in the University of 
Pennsylvania, and the Medical Department had been 
followed by those at Harvard; the Resolutions of 
Philadelphia, against the landing of tea, had been 
adopted by Boston in precisely the same words, three 
weeks later; the principles of the Revolution as stated 
by John Dickinson in the Farmer's Letters had been 
accepted by John Adams and Samuel Adams : the Adop- 
tion of the Constitution of the United States by Penn- 
sylvania was followed by that of Massachusetts, two 
months later: the principles of religious liberty es- 
tablished by Penn were finally adopted by every ham- 
let and township from Maine to Connecticut; the 
Antislavery principles, first announced in German- 
town, Philadelphia, in 1688, were taken up by Garri- 
son in Boston in 1831; and "When that great struggle 
against slavery resulted in war, the men of Pennsyl- 
vania who came to the rescue and first reached the 
Capital at Washington were soon followed by the men 
of Massachusetts. And in the battle of Gettysburg, 
where that wonderful soldier, George G. Meade, broke the 
back of the Rebellion, in the very acme of that crisis, 
when the fate of the Nation was involved in the issue 
and the advance of Pickett's Division hurled itself to 
destruction against the Philadelphia Brigade, that ever 
glorious Brigade stood more firmly because they knew 
the fact that the Rhode Island Battery of Brown, the 

42 



United States Battery of Gushing and the brave sons 
of Massachusetts, of the 19th and 20th regiments, 
supported them on every side." 

Well do I remember the cheers with which that 
speech was received. 

I have dealt with but few phases of the character 
of this many sided man — and I am painfully conscious 
of the inadequacy of my treatment. I lack the knowl- 
edge and I lack the time. It would require the pen of 
a Dibdin or a Hazlitt, and the science of the real anti- 
quarian book lover to do him justice; and even then 
I doubt whether in one individual, however gifted, the 
requisite qualifications would be found. Depth of 
knowledge is rarely associated with descriptive power. 
The old fashioned Dry-as-dust book seller, whose 
lungs are filled with the pollen of withered books, 
whose hands are grimy with the impalpable powder 
of decayed bindings; whose eyes are bleared by de- 
ciphering illegible manuscripts, whose shop is choked 
with boxes of trash, and whose outlook upon life is 
bounded by priced catalogues or the excitement of 
auction sales could always derive instruction and en- 
couragement from this multifarious man of affairs, 
whose penetrating intellect sounded the centuries, 
whose mental grasp comprehended and classified the 
varied learning of the ages, whose real activities were 
those of a Commonwealth, whose pride and whose 
courage never snapped under strain, and whose serene 
faith in the good and the beautiful and the true 
exalted his life and made him armor-proof against 
calumny. 



43 



You, gentlemen of The Philobiblon Club, will miss 
his genial presence, his unvarying good temper, his 
hearty laugh, his spice of anecdote, his quickness of 
repartee, his zeal for learning, his sympathy with your 
aims, his stimulating manliness, his talk so full of 
mental oxygen. You will miss this man, whose fa- 
vorite aphorism was that of Alphonso the Wise: "Old 
books to read, old wood to burn, old wine to drink, 
old friends for company, all the rest are only baga- 
telles." 



44 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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